As the November 8 election approaches, the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District will have an operating levy on the ballot. The Board of Education continues to evaluate the District’s financial status and consider the next phase of budget reductions. The Board has made every possible attempt to prevent the cuts from affecting the classroom; however, additional reductions must be made if the November levy does not pass.
“If the passage of the levy is unsuccessful in November, we have no other recourse but to continue to make reductions to our operating budget,” said Pat Matthews, Board of Education President. “Therefore, the Board will be voting at its regular meeting on September 26 to approve the implementation of these cuts to go in effect November 14 which will have a significant impact on families and citizens community wide. However, passage of the levy would result in the return of high school busing with cluster stops.”
As a result of no new local funding since 2002 coupled with recent state funding cuts, more than $7 million has been eliminated from the operating budget over the past five years. Among the current reductions which have been implemented is the elimination of high school busing, administrative, teacher and staff pay freezes, including no step increases, higher employee paid healthcare contributions, teacher and staff layoffs, program cuts, several high school electives have been eliminated and more.
In an effort to keep parents, students, staff and community members abreast of the impending cuts, the Board has announced the next phase of reductions, which will be:
• Busing will be reduced to the state minimum of two miles – students in grades K-8 who live less than two miles of their respective school building will no longer have transportation provided to and from school
• All elementary buildings will close at 4 p.m.
• Lakeview Intermediate School will close at 4 p.m.
• Kimpton Middle School will close at 6 p.m.
• Stow-Munroe Falls High School will close at 6 p.m.
• All buildings will be closed on weekends
• All field trips will be eliminated
• Pay-to-play fees will double for the 2012-2013 school year
• An independent committee, which will include local citizens, will review a building study and make recommendations to permanently close one or more school buildings
However, if the November operating levy IS passed by voters in Stow and Munroe Falls, resulting in additional funding, the Board will not institute the above mentioned cuts, and are committed to reinstating high school busing with cluster stops.
About Stow-Munroe Falls City School District
The Stow-Munroe Falls City School District is rated Excellent by the Ohio Department of Education, an honor held by 267 districts out of 613 statewide. For more information, visit www.smfschools.org, follow updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/smfschools or via Twitter at www.twitter.com/st_jones4.
# # #
Media Contact: Jacquie Mazziotta, st_mazziotta@smfcsd.org
